On this 4th of July I am thinking of Freedom. I am thinking of it not just in terms of my freedom in independence from others, as is often overemphasized on this holiday and in our fallen humanity (although I am THANKFUL for my distinction from others too! Yay!). I am thinking of it more in terms of my freedom to be me in relationship to and with everyone else! In all seriousness THAT is the ONLY kind of Freedom there really is! You see, God the Father, Son and Spirit is the only truly FREE Persons in Relationship. They have declared that They are Free to Be One WITH each other as Father, Son and Spirit. John 14-17. They are FREE to be with us in the image of Their human image – Jesus Gen 1, Heb 1-2. And They were FREE to create us in Their image as male and female, together, with God and all Creation. Gen 1-2, Heb 1-2.

But, of course, this FREEDOM isn’t always understood or practiced in this way by us fallen human beings, including me! Yikes! And that explains the difficulty of me being me and you being you in our world! In my interaction with others it is not easy being me! Some people actually hate and dislike me (I can’t believe it either! Hahaha) Some people actually hate and dislike you! (and sometimes I am that people!…Yikes! Ha!)

For instance can you imagine the things I potentially face being me in my world? I have been identified by the Church as one called to be a Pastor, but hardly anything I’ve done, or like to do, actually “qualifies” me for being and doing that! Ha! Imagine the important pastors meetings I might have to attend and the answers I might have to truthfully give:

“So where did you go to school and get your doctor of ministry?” Bluffton High School, of course!

“Well, then you must have graduated with a high grade point average surely!” 1.3 (although I am sure that is still a little too high!)

“Well (sputter!) then, what classes have best prepared you for being a Senior Pastor and District Pastor?” Working in the Supermarket industry for 14 years! Reading all the Tarzan, Fantasy/Science Fiction books I could get my hands on! TV, Movies, and more TV, especially movies of all types! And sleep, you must get plenty!

“Uhhhhhhhhhh, your sense of humor?” Sneaking and listening to Richard Pryor and George Carlin cassette tapes with my brothers very early in life, and watching Martin, Gilligan’s Island, the Three Stooges, Looney Tunes, and The Little Rascals, NOW, of course!

“Well, uh, er, (cough!)how did you develop such an appreciation and talent for leading worship music?” Listening to Sesame Street LP’s (especially Roosevelt Franklin) over and over (still do!), listening to Take 6 and all kinds of other good music even when my religion told me I wasn’t supposed to (got me centered on Jesus!), breaking my neck by breakdancing for hundreds of hours throughout the late 80’s – listening to all the good and “bad” music even when deacons told me to stop! Writing some of the saddest raps and love songs you ever heard (my wife still holds her ears on just the memory of some of those as I “wooed”, I mean, “mooed” her!!), recording “tracks” between two tape recorders over and over until you thought there was a snake in the room because of the huge HISSING sound!, Playing in the high school band on Friday nights (breaking another sacred code of my then religion!), etc.

“(sarcastically)…and teaching others about this Great Dance of the Trinity?” See all the answers above and then add Spokesman’s Club of the old cult of the Worldwide Church of God, preaching to rocks in our long, stone driveway, dancing every chance I get, and proclaiming a “gospel” publicly against the Gospel for about 7 years! Tee-hee…

(And those are the few things that I think I CAN tell you without you thinking so low of me you might not ever read another word of anything I write about the Gospel! Ha!)

So, the point of all this?!

Well, I was reading Karl Barth, writing on God’s Freedom, and I got really fired up when I read, “And finally, He [God the Trinity]is always infinitely diverse in His communion with each individual angel, thing, man or believer, as compared with all the rest.” – [Karl Barth Church Dogmatics II/1, 316] And then I understood myself better, and my “crazy” life and answers above, and the distinct uniqueness called me, and the distinct, unique weirdness called YOU! Haha 🙂

Because of Who the Father, Son and Spirit is as One Free to be in Relationship with me and you and all created things in various ways, AND because He is One FREE to be the Way He wants to be in His Love toward me and you, THEN, He is FREE to be with ME AS I AM, and FREE to be with YOU AS YOU ARE, in all our rich dignity AND defiance, and make of us what He wants (or doesn’t want to!) HaHa!

So, this fourth of July I urge you to remember God’s Present Freedom to be Loving and to be with you IN RELATIONSHIP TO, WITH, and FOR OTHERS, so that we will all be MORE FREE to be ourselves, MORE FREE not to compare yourselves with others or how God might be living in others to fulfill His purposes for His creation, and MORE FREE to think of Freedom as it has been revealed by God in Jesus Christ!

Being more free to be my “Singy, Rappy, Gospely, Goofy” self WITH YOU, and desiring to share with you His Good News in a rich variety of ways, here is another rappy song I created and perform TOGETHER WITH my local congregation, New Life Fellowship of Baltimore, Maryland, each month! Come by this July 14th and you’ll hear us dance, clap and sing to it again!

Our proclamation of the Gospel on Easter/Resurrection Day at New Life Fellowship Baltimore this year came in the form of singing, dancing, drama, videos and rapping! I wish you could have been there and experienced all the gifted presentations! Because of my in-home studio you can at least hear one of the Resurrection raps I did and get a sense of the flavor of our service that day 🙂

I “flipped the script” on an old Bow-Wow rap song called ***”Freshazimiz” and, in the light of the Gospel, changed it into “FreshAzHeIz”, and rapped to the original trax, placing Jesus at the center!

The Gospel declares to all of humanity that when Jesus died, all of humanity died 2(2 Cor 5:14); and When Jesus rose, all of humanity rose IN HIM (1 Peter 1:3)! The scriptures also say that “as He is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17). This all means that RIGHT NOW, as God the Trinity sees us, we are each as Fresh as Jesus Iz! HaHa! Enjoy! 🙂

***Fresh Az I’m Iz. (C) 2005 SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT. All Copy Rights and Ownership go to Bow Wow and His producer J.D. and every one else that played a role in this song and its album. I am making no money on this and only rap it at Church to my congregation. 🙂